Lockpicking
The Pick Lock skill allows rogues to use to open locked doors, chests, and lockboxes. It is like a gathering skill, such as Fishing or Mining; the rogue must have it at or above a certain level to open certain types of locks. This skill typically doesn't advance quickly enough with casual use; rogues must occasionally go out on runs to improve their lockpicking. Fortunately, your rogue trainer can point you to areas which contain footlockers at your skill level. The basic formula for your maximum lockpicking skill at a particular level is (5 * level). Lockpicking can be learned from a rogue trainer at level 16. Strategy Early on you might get some Practice Locks from an engineer to increase your lockpicking up to skill level 80. The quest to obtain Lockpicking will point you toward plenty of practice chests. Most Alliance Rogues' best chance to get their skill up to snuff will be at level 16-20 (after getting the Pick Lock skill) in a place called Alther's Mill in the Redridge Mountains region where there is a quest to lockpick a series of chests to find a quest item. These chests respawn quickly and may be practiced upon from 1-100 skill (though this is capped at 80 if the rogue goes there while still level 16). Horde Rogues can gain early levels from an equivalent quest on the ship off the Merchant Coast, south of Ratchet. The Rogue Poison Quests for Horde and Alliance provide the next opportunity for solid skill gains. The quest is gained at level 20, although it's a little tricky to complete at that level. The item required to complete this quest is contained inside a locked chest that can be picked repeatedly up to 140 skill (changed from 170 in patch 2.3) (Edit: As of 12/28/07, the box is still green and giving skill up to and almost definitely past 145). If you've already finished the quest, you can still use the chests to gain skill, however there is a bit of a trick to use them. The chests don't highlight when you mouse over them, so you have to activate your lockpicking skill first and then click the chest. (You will still get the Touch of Zanzil poison, and will need something like Jungle Remedy to get rid of it.) After skill 140 a Rogue has to practice Lockpicking the hard way, actually travelling out into the world to find opportunities for gain. Historically doors such as those in Gnomeregan and Scarlet Monastery could be picked repeatedly similar to the chests previously mentioned, however a timer now exists limiting skill gain to one point every so often. Luckily Locked Footlockers have been distributed in the world to compensate for this providing a fairly simple method for continued gains. For example, speaking to a Rogue trainer about where one might practice lockpicking at 170 skill refers the player to Angor Fortress in Badlands. Angor Fortress is populated by level 38-40(?) non-Elites and is loaded with respawning Footlockers. It's relatively painless for a suitably leveled Rogue to blaze through popping locks well into the 200s. The "Footlocker" chart below describes the best locations for your skill. Junkboxes may be obtained by pickpocketing humanoids. Good places to go as of 12/18/07 after finishing the skill points from the quest chests. ~100 After Rogue Poison Quest Start at Durnholde keep. A great place to find Battered footlockers for easy skilling in this level range is the upper area. Continuously make routes around Durnholde, and pickpocket mobs for Junkboxes. Once you get to 150-170, you can go to Angor Fortress in Badlands. Go to the upper parts, and again pickpocketing for junkboxes will help. Once you get to 175 you can open all of the boxes in the fortress. Once to 205 or so, go to the Scarlet Monastery doors. Read below the doors section on what to do. Open each door, go into the instance and pickpocket 3 mobs. Come back out and open the doors and the timer will have reset for the skillups from the doors. Continuously do this until 225. At 225, go to Searing Gorge. Down into the slag pit are dented footlockers. You can open all of them, and again pickpocket for junkboxes. Stay here until 250. Now is when it gets difficult. The best place for 250-300 is Tyr's Hand in Eastern Plaguelands. Pickpocket the mobs and find all of the scarlet footlockers. In the time it takes to take a full circle of Tyr's Hand, the starting point will be pickpocketable/and have boxes respawned. Do this until 300. If 70, and have 300+ lockpicking. The best place at 70 is outside of Black Temple in Shadowmoon Valley. (Very east side, hunk of land sticking out). Stay near the blood elves that are paladins/warriors (Not by name), not the demon hunters. Pickpocket these and kill them to have them respawn. Continue this from 300-350 for the most efficient skilling up. As many know, there is a thrown weapon that can be taken out of the Strong Junkboxes that come out of Outland. http://thottbot.com/i34622 (Spinesever). Supposedly it was recently nerfed. From 350 you can open any door that can be picked, any box, and any chest. Good luck! Gear , created through Leatherworking, increase lockpicking skill by 5. They reduce the chance of a lockpicking attempt failing and also can be used to pick locks slightly out of your skill range. Pickable Locks Locked Items Footlockers Treasure Chests Doors Skill gains on doors not inside an instance are on a timer. They cannot be picked repeatedly for skill. A certain amount of time (about 5 min) must elapse before skill gains may be realized again. As of 12-16-07, there seems to be a 50/50 chance that picking a junkbox will reset the skill gain timer on either or both Scarlet Monastery doors. Zoning into either of the four instances and pickpocketing at least three mobs always resets the SM door timer on both doors. Alternatives to Lockpicking If a rogue is unavailable, there are several alternatives. Locks can be opened by various Skeleton keys made by Blacksmiths. There are four types of skeleton key recipes, all of which can be learned from Blacksmithing trainers. Each recipe creates two keys, which are used up on a successful pick. Additionally Engineers can use Seaforium Charges to open locked doors and chests. Beta In the early closed beta, mages had a spell called Khadgar's Unlocking which could unlock lockboxes and doors by consuming a reagent, but this spell was removed in Patch 0.9. Lockpicking Etiquette There is very little consensus on what standard policies for lockpicking are; Rogue expectations can vary wildly from server to server. Some expect a tip, and some gladly open locks for free. Common assumptions can be: # It is never acceptable to open a trade with a rogue without first asking him/her if he can open a certain box. Among other things, it can disrupt a mail composition, an auction house scan, or a profession crafting, and can be very irritating. Many rogues will automatically ignore people who open trade windows unsolicited. # If a rogue is yelling or sending messages to the general channel to open boxes, they are generally doing it for the skillup, and are not doing it to make money, unless otherwise specified. # If a rogue expects a fee for lockpicking, he should negotiate it ahead of time. Otherwise, gracious players often tip anywhere between and to the opening rogue, based on the type of lockbox opened. Most locks under Thorium Lockboxes, are usually worth tipping the rogue and Thorium and above is worth about based on most servers. # If you ask a rogue before opening, usually he/she will open it for free. External links *Goblin Workshop Lockpicking Guide *WoW Forum's Lockpicking FAQ *Lockpicking from levels 1 to 375 Category:Game Terms Category:Rogues Category:Lockboxes Category:Lockpicking